Melanoma skin cancer can be fatal unless caught early, but most skin lesions are harmless. Dermoscopy with training can help with diagnosis. This blog is not a substitute for a medical opinion-if you are worried about a changing or funny looking mole or spot, get it checked by a doctor with suitable skills.

Course latest

The integrated skin lesion recognition and dermoscopy course I am running with 2 consultant colleagues is now full. If all goes well enough on June 24th we will likely refine and repeat next year.

I set up a Google group to discuss cases and this is now live although its 3 weeks until the course begins. Seems to work OK and has the great advantage of being free. It took me a while to work out how to do it but its not difficult. The group is by my invite only and can’t be viewed by outsiders. It may prove to be a handy way of group education, we’ll see.

I’m amazed at how good the dermoscopy videos on YouTubes are. They are so good I can understand why people who are selling a course (as I am) may feel unfairly threatened by folks making education freely available. But how could that be wrong? Dermoscopy is not precise, there are several schools which overlap and differ somethat, and no 2 lesions are alike. In a multitutde of teachers there is safety.